He was 71 years old on Sept. 20. He lives alone, accepts favors when he needs to.

But Dino Battista has more problems to worry about than the average 71-year- old. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known also as Lou Gehrig`s disease. There is no cure and no treatment.

His fingers bend inward on his palms like crow`s feet. He cannot raise his hands to eat; he uses a pulley device he invented to lift a fork to his mouth.

ALS, a disorder of the central nervous system, will rob him of his ability to speak, breathe or move while it mercilessly will leave his brain untouched.

Battista describes his condition with typical understatement.

``I can`t use my hands too well anymore,`` he says.

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He goes to the Howard Johnson`s near his trailer in North Miami Beach for a cup of coffee. The waitress brings the steaming liquid to his booth, moves it closer to him. She unwraps a straw and places it in the coffee. This is how he must drink; he cannot lift the coffee cup.

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In 1976, Battista was eating dinner when a fork dropped from his hand.

A simple stumble, but one that held great significance.

He recalled reading a book about Lou Gehrig, the famous ballplayer, and the disease that killed him in 1941.

``I remembered Gehrig was traveling; he was on a train eating dinner. He picked up a fork and it dropped out of his hand.``

Battista had been a carpenter, a handyman of sorts most of his life. His last job was a maintenance man for a hotel in North Miami Beach.

``My hands started curling in. Then my legs got very, very stiff.``

But he didn`t like doctors and wouldn`t go to one. Besides, he was sure there was no treatment because the book had said so.

``In 1978 it got so bad that I couldn`t work anymore; I couldn`t hold a screwdriver. In February 1979, I went to the doctor and he said, `You have Lou Gehrig`s disease. Go to the hospital.` They diagnosed it as ALS. Dr. (Joseph) Berger at Jackson Memorial Hospital told me to quit drinking, quit smoking. He said it would only be two or three years (before death).``

Battista refused to surrender.

``I smoke, I drink occasionally. This is how I cope with it. When they tell you to go home and die, that`s what they`ll do. I have a list of people who got it after me. Most of them are dead.``

Berger says 50 percent of all victims die within the first three years; 90 percent within six.

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Washing his face is difficult. His hands refuse to open so holding water is impossible. He grabs a rag and rubs it on his face. This is a painful ordeal if his nails are not clipped by friends at nearby beauty parlor. Somehow he still manages to shave - gripping the razor in his crippled hand and shunning shaving cream. He trims his moustache, too.

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It was a time in his life when he needed the support of loved ones. But he had little.

``When my wife found out I was sick, and that I couldn`t work anymore, she said she wasn`t going to work and have her husband sit around at home. She didn`t believe I was sick. She left me. We had been married seven years.``

It was his second marriage, the first was dissolved years earlier. His four children live out of state.

He receives solace from the support group he attends once a month in Margate; he is a star to those who attend.

``He is very independent and very determined,`` says Lillian Moskowitz of Margate, who founded the support group 10 years ago after her husband died of the disease.

``He develops little things that he uses as his condition deteriorates,`` she says, remembering a pulley he uses during mealtimes. ``He is compassionate. There are some who have no way of fending for themselves. I don`t know how he does it.``

Berger is equally impressed.

``He has done surprisingly well,`` he says.

His condition, however, is ``inexorably progressive,`` Berger says.

Battista`s friends at Kobe`s Trailer Park, where he has lived the past two years, fix his car and help him with other errands. This summer Tom Kobe flew him up north to see his children and his wife baked him a cake for his birthday.

Rudy Garcia, a neighbor, adds: ``Dino has been through so much; he is really an inspiration to us. He is always smiling. He never complains, and he never asks for anything - unless it is absolutely necessary.

``His younger days have passed - but his spirit is younger than some people. He is real encourgement for us, and we love him!``

Dino Battista wants to go bowling. Before ALS tightened its grip, he bowled with a league. The guys at the alley miss him and want him to come back. He wishes he could have his old job back.

``Sometimes I get despondent. I get discouraged. I can`t do what I used to do. But I can`t complain,`` he says.